


Oh, How I Miss That Bright Sun

by dickiebirdz



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, More characters to come, Time Travel, mixing and fixing of canons, ric grayson (only temporary)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickiebirdz/pseuds/dickiebirdz
Summary: Jason & Damian go back in time to save Gotham, but end up further back than they expected.





	Oh, How I Miss That Bright Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting the first chapter just in time for jason's bday <333 happy birthday my loooveeee

“Hood.”

Jason clenched his jaw and ignored it, trying to focus.

“Hood.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. 

He could almost make out what they were saying in the warehouse, if they would just step closer to the—

_“Hood!”_

“Oh my God. Shut the_ fuck _up, I’m trying to listen,” Jason growled into the private comm line between himself and Robin. The thugs were gesturing wildly and arguing about something and he needed to know what was being said, but they were standing too far away from the bug he’d planted. Only one of them was facing his direction, so lip-reading wasn’t getting him anywhere.

“Maybe if you had done your job correctly, we would be able to hear them, but somehow you are so incompetent that you are unable to follow through with simple surveillance.” 

Jason closed his eyes and counted to ten. Bats was out of commission with a broken leg, so Red Hood had been forced to step in and work a case with the demon spawn. They hadn’t worked together just the two of them in a long time, and if this mission was any indication, they really shouldn’t be alone without a buffer. Jason had already talked himself out of shooting the kid eight different times, and Damian had lost his temper the night before and thrown a punch. So, yeah, they needed a buffer. 

Unfortunately, no one else was available. Tim was off with his Young Justice pals dealing with some alien invasion across the country, and just an hour ago, there had been a mass breakout in Arkham, which required all available vigilantes in the area to drop everything they were doing to help. 

Red Hood and Robin were called in as well, but Jason and Damian had both refused to leave their opp. The cops had the help of no less than ten of the cape and cowl variety. Together they were perfectly capable ofrounding up the escapees and shoving them back into their Arkham cells. Whereas if Red Hood and Robin left, no one would help the warehouse full of young women escape their trafficking captors. So they’d stuck to the plan. 

Things were certainly louder and more chaotic throughout the city, but they didn’t pay attention to it. He figured if they randomly happened upon Joker later, he and Robin could smash him up with a crowbar or two and maybe even end the night early. 

Jason watched as a few of the men walked outside, and he was finally able to catch a few helpful phrases. “They’re thinking of waiting to transfer the shipment tomorrow instead, because of the breakout.” 

“Idiots,” Robin said, lowly. “The breakout would make it easier for them, not harder.”

“I’ll be sure to let them know you said that.” 

“_Tt_. What is our move here then, Hood? If they wait until tomorrow, our plan of rescuing the victims mid-transfer is off. Unless you presume to wait another night, that is.”

Jason scowled. “No. We’re not letting these creeps keep those girls for another hour. We move now. Breaking into the warehouse just means we won’t get to crack as many skulls.”

He heard a soft whoosh of wind as Robin dropped down beside him. “I think we should be able to find plenty of skulls to crack,” Damian said with a sinister smile on his face that was reminiscent of a supervillain.  


* * *

Because the GCPD was so swamped with the Arkham drama, Jason and Damian had to take the criminals they’d apprehended down to the station themselves. It was…awkward. Jason felt like he was playing Batman, which was aggravating. Red Hood did not drop off criminals at the police station and make small talk with the night shift. What was worse, in order to move the goons, he’d had to abandon his bike in an alley and take the fucking _Batmobile_.

In ordinary circumstances he’d be thrilled, but this wasn’t exactly his idea of a fun joy ride, and he’d had to physically shove Damian into the passenger seat. As if he would let a teenager drive him around. The entire situation was bad for his rep, but at least everyone was too busy worrying about the escaped psychopathic murderers to gossip about Red Hood hanging out with Robin in the Batmobile at the police station with the candlestick. In fact, he’d stayed in the car and let Robin deal with the cops. 

He was just about to steal the thing and leave Damian to fend for himself when Bruce’s face popped up on the dashboard, startling him. 

“Red Hood. You and Robin are needed at Gotham Light and Power.” It was a command, delivered harsh, in that uncompromising tone that used to straighten Jason’s spine and make him want to obey.

He bit down on his tongue to keep his automatic retort from spilling out. Instead he took a breath and cocked his head. “That’s on the complete opposite side of the city. Surely one of your other little batkids are closer.”

Jason watched Bruce’s jaw clench in anger, giving him a childish thrill.

“There are high levels of radiation coming from the plant and an unknown toxin is spreading quickly. If it isn’t stopped—”

“Alright, alright. I get it. What kind of toxin are we looking at?”

“We don’t know, it could be deadly,” Bruce grumbled, then lowered his voice. “Hood, I can’t be out there. As of now you—” he paused. “You are _the oldest_, and that means you are in charge.” Sadness briefly flickered across his face, fleeting, almost too quickly to notice, but Jason was well-versed in the complex facial expressions of Bruce Wayne. He knew they were both thinking the same thing. A lump began to form in the back of his throat, unwanted and unfair. He was over it. There was no reason for it to bother him anymore, but. _The oldest._ The fact that Bruce had even said those two words was so beyond fucked up. 

“Make sure Robin wears a mask. I’m calling in reinforcements, but there’s no telling how soon they’ll arrive. Link your comm up to Batgirl and Black Bat. Oracle and I will guide you.” 

“Roger that, B,” Jason said, because he didn’t know what else _to_ say. The passenger door opened and Damian climbed in. “We’re on our way.”

* * *

Once they made it to the plant, it was pretty obvious what was causing the skyrocketing radiation levels. 

It was a bomb. 

_Of course_ it was a bomb. 

Because Jason had a very annoying disorder in which his life couldn’t ever just be _simple_. Whatever chemical was in that bomb had spread all over Gotham. It was thick enough they could see it in the air, cloudy and yellow-tinged, blanketing the city with its dusty film. Jason had forced Damian into wearing a mask and a version of his Robin outfit that was basically a glorified hazmat suit, but neither of their suits or masks would keep them alive when the thing went off. Realization slammed into him like a brick wall. That strange film that was covering Gotham had to be some sort of chemical conduit. Gotham was going to explode. 

Jason had spent weeks in Europe learning about chemical bombs—how to meticulously assemble them, as well as how to diffuse them—and he wasn’t about to let Talia’s money go to waste. The bomb had a timer, but no wires, and as far as they could see, no way to stop it. Even so, they had to try. After a few moments of tinkering with it, he was pretty sure what they were dealing with was magical in some way, and neither he nor Robin had a quick enough fix.

He spoke onto the open comm line. “Does anybody copy? Batgirl, Black Bat, Signal—does anybody copy?”

It took a moment, but Steph’s voice came in clear, though she sounded like she was out of breath. “Batgirl here, what’s up?” Cass let out a quiet, “Here,” and Jason heard Duke’s “Signal here,” before he spoke again. 

“Evacuate the city. Get as many people out as you can. Make GCPD reopen the bridges and get everyone out.” He sighed. “Including yourselves.”

“What? No, Red Hood, what’s going on?” Oracle’s voice came over the line as the others chorused her confusion. 

“Bomb. Chemical. Maybe nuclear. About to blow. All of Gotham. Get out or get underground. But get as many people out as you can. You only have,” he looked over at the timer. “Nine minutes.”

Jason cut the line, ending their protesting, and watched as Damian examined the bomb, looking for some kind of way to deactivate it. He opened Bruce’s private line instead. 

“Red Hood, report.” He sounded strained, which meant he’d heard them on the other line. 

“Batman. There’s nothing we can do. Get Alfred and get underground, now.”

“Red Hood—” 

“No,” Jason felt a flood of panic set in. “Listen to me. That shit that’s all over the city? That’s how far the blast radius is gonna hit.”

“Jason—”

“You’re too far out to help,” Jason snapped. “With a broken fucking leg. Get underground and make sure the others do too.”

“Do what he says, Father,” Damian told him, seriously. 

Jason shut off the comm before he could hear Bruce’s reply, though he heard Damian mutter something back. He moved closer to the bomb and let the interface in his mask do a second run-down analysis, looking for any way to disarm it. Damian was messing with the clock, but since it was magic and not actually tech, they were just wasting their time.

He grabbed Damian and pulled him away from it roughly. 

“Get out of here. Head to the Clock Tower. It’s the closest bunker. Help Oracle get underground and wait there.”

“What? No. We can figure this out.”

Dread rolled through him like a hurricane and an uncomfortable clenching feeling pressed hard on his sternum. Jason squeezed his eyes shut, completely bowled over by the all-encompassing rush of longing. He wished Nightwing were there, and he hated himself for it. Dick would know what to do, and he’d know what to say to get the demon brat to obey. 

_Five minutes._

“Robin, get the fuck out of here,” Jason growled. “That’s an order.” 

“So you’re just giving up? No, I am not leaving here until I can find a way to dismantle the bomb.”

Jason grabbed Damian by the front of his suit and pulled his face close. “Hey, I’ll do everything I can. There is no point in both of us dying. Now go. Take the Batmobile and get the fuck out of here. You’re wasting time.”

“Hood—”

“_Damian_ get the fuck—”

He was cut off by a figure appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, with a faint blur of magic surrounding them. He and Damian both jumped back in alarm, but it only took a second to realize it was just Zatanna. Damian didn’t waste any time. “Can you stop the bomb?”

Zatanna looked it over, and they watched as she used some of her magical whatever on the device.

“Whoever made this is more like me than you,” she told them. 

Jason sighed. “I’d gathered that, yeah. A Meta most likely.”

“Hmm,” was her only reply. 

_Four minutes. _

“Can you stop it or not?” 

“I don’t think so.”

Jason looked at Damian. Could he make it to the Clock Tower in three and a half minutes? 

“Robin, go.” 

Damian glared at him. “Then you come too,” he said defiantly.

“Do you have a second-death wish? Jesus, kid. Get out of here.” 

Jason would just have to manhandle him into the Batmobile. He could program it to go straight to the Clock Tower. He grabbed Damian’s arm and was starting to drag him out when Zatanna stopped him. 

“Wait,” she said, but Jason kept walking. 

_Three minutes._

If they didn’t leave now, there was no chance they’d make it to the bunker on time. He had to make a decision. 

“I can send you back,” she called after them and they paused, turning to look back at her. 

_“_What?”

“Three weeks, I’ll send you back and you can stop this all.”

They stared at her.

_Two minutes._

“Trust me,” she said, and Jason turned to lock eyes with Damian. They couldn’t leave now, they were too close to the blast radius, and the Batmobile wouldn’t protect them. Jason could not, would not be responsible for another Robin’s death. Damian raised his eyebrows and Jason sighed.

They turned back to Zatanna and Jason nodded.

* * *

Jason came to slowly, consciousness pulsing in and out like the pounding throb of a blacklight hitting a slow beat, his senses waxing and waning uncomfortably. When he opened his eyes, it was dark, and after surveying his surroundings, he was only tangentially aware that he was in a Gotham alleyway. 

He sat up, head fuzzy and hurting as he attempted to stave off the bright spots dancing across his vision. Damian woke up much more quickly when Jason slapped at his arm a few times, jumping to his feet and looking around circumspectly.

“Where are we?” Damian asked as he shucked off his outer layers until he was dressed only in his regular Robin attire. 

Jason glanced around as he pulled a small vial from his utility belt. “West end, I’m pretty sure.”

He filled the vial with the strange yellow film still clinging to his clothes, then capped it, stuffing it back into his pocket. He rose to his feet, cracking his back and dusting the rest of the shit off of him. 

“We should take the sample back to the Cave to test it.”

Damian nodded.

“So how much do we know about this time shit? Should we be worrying about running into ourselves?”

Damian’s white lenses narrowed like he was frowning behind his mask. “I am not sure,” he finally said. “She told us three weeks. Is that twenty-one days exactly? How accurate is magical time-jumping?”

Jason shrugged. “No fucking clue. Let’s assume it’s three weeks to the date.”

“October 3rd,” Damian supplied after a moment. 

“I was out of town,” Jason said, “so I guess we don’t have to worry about the other me. What about you?”

“This is the week before Father was injured. A Sunday. I believe we were patrolling the city with Batgirl and Black Bat. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Okay,” Jason said, then shot a line to the nearest rooftop, Damian trailing behind him. 

“We should set up surveillance at Gotham Light and Power, get Oracle to send us footage of all notable activity from the last few weeks. We don’t know how far in advance they planned the bombing.”

“I will track down Father and explain what happened. Then we can reconvene at the Cave to begin testing the substance. Split up?”

Jason mulled it over in his mind. It would be quicker, and probably more efficient, but it also could provoke some problems. He shook his head. “If we’re gonna have to explain all of this to anyone, it’ll be easier together.” More credible, really. Damian nodded, and Jason was surprised he was allowing him to take the lead on this.

“Shall I try contacting Father over the comm link?”

“Not if he’s standing right next to the other you, no. We’ll have to track him down the old-fashioned way. Loop around the city?”

Damian agreed and the two of them set off. 

* * *

As it turned out, tracking down Batman was easy. They overheard GCPD talk about a break in over at the bank and headed that way, knowing he was likely already there to put a stop to it.

Both Damian and Jason moved through the city efficiently, letting muscle memory take over as they grappled from building to building, a well-oiled machine. Which was why it was so jarring when the both of them miscalculated the height of the building they were jumping onto, and they tumbled onto the rooftop, hard. 

“Jesus, fuck!” Jason groaned, feeling the bruise bloom on his shoulder where he’d landed and rolled. 

“What the hell was that?” Damian growled at him where his body lay in a heap next to Jason’s, annoyed, as if somehow this was Jason’s fault. 

“I don’t fucking know!” Jason snapped. “Something weird.”

Something felt vaguely off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He couldn’t make sense of what happened. Jason knew Gotham. Knew her inside and out, every nook and cranny. His body had spent years memorizing the trajectory, distance, and speed it would take to grapple between each and every building. Sure, every one of them slipped up now and then, especially when distracted, but for he and Damian to both slip up at the exact same time in the exact same way? The odds didn’t add up.

They got to their feet and were shaking out their sore limbs when they heard the telltale sound of another line hitting the building next to them. Jason turned, and lo and behold, there was Batman. 

Something itched at him. Something was off, more so now that he’d caught sight of Bruce. Something that bothered him, clicking around in the recesses of his mind, but refusing to push to the surface. Like it was sitting on the tip of his tongue, waiting for Jason to notice it. 

He watched Batman walk to the ledge and studied him intently. It was clear he hadn’t spotted them yet. Bruce leaned over, looking down at something in the street below. 

“Robin, come check this out,” Batman said, voice booming. Damian shifted beside Jason, moving further into view. 

Batman’s cape lifted up with the wind, and Jason frowned. Was Bruce wearing a different suit? It looked like it. At least a few upgrades ago. He peered closer, letting his mask do the work, zooming further in so he could fully analyze what he was seeing. 

And then it hit him. 

Sharp and shocking, like he’d been drenched with a bucket full of icy glacier water. 

Oh, fuck. 

It took him only a split second to realize that Damian was already speaking. 

“I’m right here Fa—“ Jason slapped a hand over Damian’s mouth, muffling his final word, but it was too late. 

Batman had been alerted to their presence and was staring down at the two of them in confusion. 

“Don’t say a word,” Jason ordered lowly, in his most authoritative voice, praying to anyone who would listen that the kid would obey him for once. 

Damian pulled away and glared. “What is your problem Red Hood?”

“Not three weeks,” was all Jason could say before Batman dropped down onto the rooftop in front of them. 

He could tell Damian was gearing up to defy him with some misplaced rant—_tact_ had never been his forte—but before he even got a word out, another figure dropped down beside Batman, shocking him into silence. 

Jason felt his heart-rate rise as he watched Batman and his Robin take in the two of them. Shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit. He took a step in front of Damian to obscure him from view. 

Batman sent them his angriest bat glower before addressing them. “Who are you?” His voice was harsh and angry rather than curious, and Jason tried to come up with the right thing to say, but everything fell short. 

He hesitated a moment. “We can’t tell you that,” he finally said. “We’re here by mistake—”

“Meaning?”

“We were, uh, sent back in time? I mean—we were supposed to be sent back _three weeks_, but this isn’t three weeks ago,” he explains, unintelligently. Jason wasn’t sure what to say, shock and fear taking over, but he was thankful that Damian had still not spoken. He glanced over at him and saw he was staring daggers at the other Robin in front of him. 

“Why can’t you tell us who you are?” The other Robin asked, curiously.

Jason sighed, about to stumble through another vague explanation, but Damian spoke instead. 

“Because knowing who we are could alter the future,” he said, voice barely containing his hostility. 

Jason was honestly just glad he no longer had to worry about Damian outing them. 

“Exactly. We don’t want to change anything vital.”

“Hmm,” Batman replied evasively. Skeptical and suspicious as always. He narrowed his gaze at Jason. “Your symbol,” he said. “The bat.”

“Yeah, we’re, uh, all part of the Bat Family.”

Batman’s eyes narrowed further. 

“So you know us? How far in the future are you from? Why were you sent back in time?” Other Robin asked, and Jason had been staring down Bruce for so long it hadn’t even fully occurred to him that this was _Tim_ as Robin. He watched Tim survey Damian in his curious way, before asking, “What kind of Robin carries a sword?”

“The real one,” Damian growled, and Jason put a hand up to stop him from continuing. They weren’t getting into this. 

“We know you, yes,” Jason told him, choosing his words carefully so he didn’t reveal too much. “I’m not sure how far back we came—though, I suppose if you’re Robin it’d have to be at least—” He glanced at Damian in his periphery. “What, eight? Nine years?”

Damian shook his head. “What year is it?” he asked Batman, voice tight. 

“2016.” 

“Jesus,” Jason muttered under his breath. 

“So eight years,” Damian gathered. “That would mean you’re d—”

“We’re not talking about that, remember?”

“You haven’t explained why or how you seem to have traveled through time,” Bruce reminded them gruffly. 

“Something happened.” Jason took a deep breath. “We were sent back what was supposed to be three weeks, to work the case and stop it before it happened. Clearly something went wrong.”

“Clearly,” Bruce echoed. “And how exactly were you ‘sent’ back?”

“Zatanna,” Damian said, and Jason could tell Bruce was scowling behind the cowl. 

“Hmm,” was his only reply. 

“Yeah. So, we just need to find her and fix this before we fuck up anything in the past, or the future, or—whatever.”

Someone must have spoken on their comms, as Batman and Robin-Tim paused for a moment and then shared a glance. 

“Actually we have a situation here,” Batman said, and Jason took the opportunity with them distracted to pull Damian aside. 

“We need to be careful.”

“Yes, Hood, I am aware.”

“They think I’m dead and they don’t even know you exist yet. I don’t know what would happen if we fucked with that.”

“I said I understand.”

“Well, okay then.”

“We must find Zatara immediately.”

“No arguments here,” Jason agreed, before turning back around.

He stopped in his tracks, shock rushing through his veins like lightning, rendering his body motionless. Damian gasped beside him and grabbed Jason’s arm. The two of them watched, jaws dropped, as someone flipped off the rooftop above them and dropped down silently behind Bruce and Tim, sauntering up with a grin on his face. 

“Hey guys, what’d I miss?”

“Nightwing?!” Damian’s voice cracked, and the three vigilantes in front of them all turned toward him. Jason and Damian kept staring at him, as if simply blinking would make him disappear.

“Yes? Who’s asking?” And there it was—the unparalleled feeling of Dick Grayson’s bright smile directed at him, lighting up his insides like fireworks. 

Jason felt a chill go through him. _No_. He was not going to be affected by this. He had to worry about Damian—he was the wildcard here, not Jason. Taking a deep breath, Jason willed his heart-rate to steady itself. 

“I—” Damian started, then shook his head, at a loss for words. 

Dick looked them up and down and cocked his head to the side like a robin, then turned back to Bruce. 

“Who’re your friends, B?”

“We don’t know,” Bruce grumbled. 

“Ooh, intrigue! Are they friends or foes?”

“Friends,” Jason said enigmatically, steady voice at odds with his reeling mind. He took a couple steps forward involuntarily.

“Fun! Well, I’m Nightwing, as you apparently already know—how flattering. This is Batman and this is Robin,” he gestured at them with his thumbs. “Now you tell us your names.”

“I am Robin,” Damian said, blazing with violent intent. He was understandably put off by Dick referring to Tim as Robin in front of him. 

Jason sighed. 

“Two Robins! Curiouser and curiouser. How did that happen?”

“They’re from the future,” Tim told him, unbridled excitement in his voice. 

“Damn, I wanna know more about that, but first—who’s this tall drink of water?” he asked, stepping closer to Jason.

The new proximity gave Jason a chance to take inventory, seeing the differences between this Dick and the more recent versions he’d seen. Flashes of images flicked through his brain as if on a loop. He was a bit skinnier, muscles still lean, and his hair was a bit longer, even longer than what Jason remembered from his own time as Robin. The Nightwing outfit was different too. No longer Discowing, but not Fingerstripes yet either. This was a bit of an in-between stage that Jason had never seen himself. 

“Red Hood,” Jason told him without a thought, and then he winced as both Bruce and Dick went still. 

_Great_. 

“Completely unrelated,” Jason said, almost frantically. “You know how it is with vigilante names.” 

Dick gave him a strange look, searching and quizzical, like he wasn’t sure if he believed him or not.

“And yet you still use that name, knowing who used it before you,” Batman said lowly.

Jason sighed. Jason Todd Luck was really starting to get to him. 

He looked at Dick and addressed him instead of Bruce, out of instinct. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Dickiebird, I promise.”

“_Hood_,” Damian growled.

It took Jason a moment to catch up. 

“What—what did you call me?”

Batman moved in closer, as if to protect Dick from him. Jesus fucking—

“I’m sorry, it just slipped out,” Jason assured them. 

“No names in the field,” Damian and Bruce said in tandem. Jason would laugh if it were any other situation. 

“You know me?” Dick asked with badly disguised concern. 

“Yeah,” Jason said softly. “I know you. We both do.”

Damian stepped forward until he was shoulder to shoulder with Jason, and when had the kid grown up so much? 

“We know all of you.” Damian locked eyes with Dick. “We are…friends. In the future.”

‘Friends’ was understating it, and he knew Damian was struggling with this. They hadn’t seen Dick in—well, a long time. He wasn’t part of the family anymore. Due to a bout of amnesia from a fucking bullet to the head. None of them were takin it well, and it had been five years. But Damian had taken it the hardest. Seeing him, happy, dressed in his black and blues, being so—_Dick_—it was very bittersweet.

“Well then, we can be friends here too,” Dick said eventually, smiling at Damian. 

Jason felt Damian relax just a fraction. 

“Are we finished with patrol for the night?” Tim asked.

“Yes,” Bruce said, still watching Jason and Damian carefully.

“Should we bring them back to the Cave?”

“You and Nightwing go ahead. First I need to ask these two a few questions.”

Dick sighed, as if this somehow put him out. “Fine, but B? Be nice,” he ordered, before pulling out his grapnel. “Come on, Robin. It was nice to meet you two!” Moonlight caught Nightwing’s grin before he flipped backwards off the building.

Jason and Damian watched them retreat, Nightwing’s figure showing off with unnecessary flips as they headed toward the Manor. 

“Alright,” Jason said when Tim and Dick had fully disappeared into the distance. “Let’s start the interrogation.”

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think in the comments!  
& if you wanna bug me on tumblr, i have a new dc sideblog @dickiebirdz


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